Pentagon leak suspect Teixeira pleads not guilty to U.S. federal charges

The Air National Guardsman accused of leaking highly classified U.S. military documents pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to six federal charges, CNN reported.

Jack Douglas Teixeira, 21, appeared in a federal court in Worcester, Massachusetts, for an arraignment after his arrest in April over the disclosure of U.S. documents related to the Ukraine war and numerous other sensitive issues.

Teixeira has been held in federal prison in Plymouth County, south of Boston, while waiting trial. No trial date has been set.

Prosecutors say Teixeira leaked classified documents to a group of gamers on the messaging app Discord. The leak is considered the most serious U.S. national security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010.

The leaked documents held highly classified information on allies and adversaries, with details ranging from Ukraine's air defenses to Israel's Mossad spy agency. President Joe Biden has ordered an investigation into why the alleged leaker had access to the sensitive information.